I HAVE A DREAM!
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Excerpt 1 - I Have a Dream - Excerpt 1
Five score years ago, ... a shameful condition.

OUR WORDS - He is trying to refer back to Abraham Lincoln when he says "Five score years ago." He is saying that he signed the Emancipation Proclamation, but yet they are still not free. They are living a hard life and they still don't have the same rights as white people do.



Excerpt 2 - I Have a Dream -- Excerpt 2
In a sense ... the security of justice.

OUR WORDS - He starts talking about how they created the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, and this said that everyone is guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. He calls the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence a check, and their check has been said "insufficient funds." Its saying that they dont have the same rights as everyone else and that they really should give them the same rights because they are guaranteed them.


Excerpt 3 - I Have a Dream -- Excerpt 3
We have also come ... Now is the time.

OUR WORDS - Now he is talking about how they shouldn't give up and that right NOW is the time to change and really create a democracy. But, people thought that the Civil Rights movement was moving to quickly, but MLK wants it to be done right now, and cash the check.


Excerpt 4 - I Have a Dream -- Excerpt 4
But there is something ... soul force.

OUR WORDS - We need to get our rights not from being guilty or being bitter, but from being disciplined and have dignity. We must protest peacefully and not fight back against the white people. We must use our souls to overcome the physical force of others.


Excerpt 5 - I Have a Dream -- Excerpt 5
The marvelous new militancy ... We cannot turn back.

OUR WORDS - We can not turn our backs to the white community because some members of the white community have come here today to help fight for Civil Rights. We are tied together and our future is together, but some people did not agree with this and said we should do this by ourselves without white people-Malcolm X.



Excerpt 6 - I Have a Dream -- Excerpt 6
There are those ... like a mighty stream."

OUR WORDS - Black people will never fully be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream." We don't want to be half free, but when we are fully free and fully equal.


Excerpt 7 - I Have a Dream - Excerpt 7
And so even though ... I have a dream today!

OUR WORDS - His dream is that the nation will be completely equal and no one will be judged and no more racism will take place. He refers back to Mississippi, Georgia, and Alabaman. He also wants his children and other children will be able to be together with white children. His dream is equality.



Excerpt 8 - I Have a Dream - Excerpt 8

And this will be the day ... we are free at last!

OUR WORDS - If America wants to succeed we have to have freedom. Let freedom ring everywhere and for everyone. When everyone can grab hands together and be as one and look past color. When everyone can really say "free at last thank god almighty we are free at last."



AFTER

If we didn't get to it in class, watch 16th Street to see what happened right after the March.




KING

Read the essay from **TIME 100 - Martin Luther King** . As you do, respond to the following questions
Why does the author feel that whites owe King the greatest debt?
Whites owe King the greatest debt because he showed them the light about race and color. He tried to end the color barrier and take whites out from the dark and show them that everyone is the same and that everyone is equal.

Was King "the right man at the right time"?
He was "the right man at the right time," because he changed the way blacks were looked at. He didn't give up and he wouldn't stop fighting (not violently though). If he wasn't one of the major leaders for Civil Rights the success probably wouldnt have been as great and the outcome would have been way different.

Would King be upset with the current use of his most often quoted line? Why or why not?
Yes he would have been because the way people are using the slogan is in ways he would have never endorsed. He would not approve of the way the phrase is being put to use.





MEMORIALS

There are many memorials to King around the United States, and there will soon be a new one in Washington D.C.! Check out some of the links below, and look at the video of the new National Memorial.


Washington, DC, **Martin Luther King** Jr. National **Memorial**

The King Center

**Martin Luther King** Jr National Historic Site

Some King historical sites from Taft's travels
Some King historical video from Taft's travels